I recently bought a D&D boxed set from the 70's in great shape as mentioned on Ebay. When I pull the box out off the parcel, a slight odor came from it. And when I open the box, a very strong odor of mold comes to my noise. I open the rulebook that is infested with brown dots on many pages and on the sides of the booklet. I have no doubt that it is mold and that the odor and the mold come from a long storage in a basement or a damp room. It's the second time I receive an item with mold, the first time it was mold on a cover under a SW. I do not know what to do with the seller. The description is not exact, I asked to him before if there were flaws and writings on the pages but not if mold . I never ask for mold. In the present case, the seller said to me that he is a collector. Is it then necessary to ask for mold each time ? Of course not. Many sellers could be hurt by the question.
The seller did not answer to me for the moment, and I wait for leaving my feedback for an answer from him. I think a partial refund should be fair because the price do not correspond to the condition . I think  I will not keep this booklet and try to buy another one. I will try to remove the odor from the box as explained in the post related to that "nightmare", hope it will work.

Hi,

something that is moldy is NOT "in great shape".

Ask for your money back.

Cheers,
Malc

If you're gonna keep it around waiting for the refund, by all means bag the thing and isolate it. Those spores can travel under the right conditions. If European spring is anything like American (damp and warmish), right now is the perfect time for mold proliferation.

smarmy1 wrote:Definitely ask for the full refund.  If the seller does not comply, then start the Ebay process.  Call Ebay customer service and explain that the box smells and the item has mold in the pages.  If it is as bad as you describe, then the item is 'damaged' and

you as a buyer should not have the responsibility of asking the seller if there is an active Shrieker colony on page 37.

Good luck.

 

That was hilarious Smarmy!

BTW: I agree with the posts above.

dwarf wrote:... I never ask for mold. In the present case, the seller said to me that he is a collector. Is it then necessary to ask for mold each time ? Of course not. Many sellers could be hurt by the question.

... I think  I will not keep this booklet and try to buy another one. I will try to remove the odor from the box as explained in the post related to that "nightmare", hope it will work.

Dwarf: I applaud your patience (I REALLY DO); if I were you I would not have even asked for advice here, the seller would have known within seconds after my discovery of the MOLD.
(With pictures too)
And I would (probably) have been very terse in letting the seller know of my great level of displeasure about the MOLD.

Many here may not know this (I tend to be shy and hide my feelings ) but MOLD is my worst enemy as a collector.
IMO: MOLD is EVERY collectors worst enemy, even if yoy do not realise it or believe it.

There is NO Doubt (for me) that you should not only get a FULL REFUND  but also be paid by the seller to ship that crap back to the seller.
You mentioed the seller is also a collector and if so, he DOES KNOW that MOLD is something that MUST be mentioned in ANY listing he posts...
ALWAYS!.
So, either seller did not know it was there (Plausible I suppose, but I cannot imagine how).
Or Seller KNEW and decided to screw someone.

As a collector and sometimes seller on E-Bay I normally would not take returns myself.
BUT if a buyer of one of my listings could prove to me that an item I sold had MOLD when I sent it, then I would not hesitate to tell buyer to toss it and return ALL of buyer's funds...
IMMEDITATELY.
Of course, buyer better prove the MOLD very convincingly, since I ALWAYS look everything over in detail before listing...

If Seller wont pay for return shipping, then tell him you will throw it out for him.
NO WAY I would pay to send it back for the seller to SCREW another hapless victim.
If that is the option you choose to take, then take plenty of pictures and send them by E-Mail, or better yet through E-Bay messaging (Pictorial Evidence of the MOLD).
And take pictures, NOT SCANS, as it is too dangerous for your scanner and too difficult to protect your scanner (and future scanned books) after scanning MOLDY crap.
My fear would be that the next item you scanned would contract MOLD too...

ashmire13 wrote:Something tells me you don't like mold, Gnat...  

MOLD IS VERY BAD!

burntwire brothers wrote:Not all mold    Aaaah the good ole days.

Cogito ergot sum?